


Keep Warm the Heart

by blanketed_in_stars



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-01
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-13 21:05:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9142183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blanketed_in_stars/pseuds/blanketed_in_stars
Summary: One winter evening, soft words, softer hearts.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Originally gifted to [rrrrash](rrrrash.tumblr.com) as part of the [2016 Rarepair Secret Santa exchange](rarepairsecretsanta.tumblr.com) (posted [here](http://rarepairsecretsanta.tumblr.com/post/155091837419/keep-warm-the-heart)).
> 
> Title from “New Year’s Eve” by Elfrida De Renne Barrow.

The snow is cold, seeping through to Rose’s toes even inside her boots. The chill spreads up her legs, and at her hands and face, the wind bites. She shivers but blinks against the gusting air, stares into the dark though it makes tears prick in her eyes. It’s a clear night without a moon, and the stars glint far above.

The sound of crunching snow reaches her ears just before the voice does, humming something by Celestina Warbeck, and then arms wrap around her from behind. “Aren’t you cold?” Scorpius asks, his words muffled by his scarf and her hat.

Rose leans her head back. “Bitterly,” she tells him.

“Why don’t you come inside, then?” She thinks she’s imagining the worry in his voice, and then he says, “I think the worst is over,” and she knows it’s real.

“The worst?” she repeats, and turns to face him. The winter flush on his cheeks stands out in the cold light. “What happened?” she demands. It takes an effort not to ask how anything could be worse than the initial reaction.

He smirks as if he knows. “Your father told me I wasn’t half bad.”

Rose snorts. “Quite the compliment.”

“Isn’t it?” Scorpius shakes his head. “Then he said he hadn’t forgotten some of the better curses from the war, and your mother hit him with her book.”

It paints such a clear picture that Rose has to laugh, and yet there is still a tight, anxious feeling in her chest. “I know you said you weren’t worried,” she says, “but are you sure—”

“I told you,” Scorpius says softly, “if my family didn’t care, why on earth would yours?”

“But,” she says, and shrugs, the gesture lost in her thick coat. “You know.”

“I know,” he agrees, leaning in to press a kiss to her cheek. “But they’re happy for us. All of them. Are you sure you won’t come inside?”

She sighs, and her breath makes a cloud in the air, frosty as the window-panes behind them. “Let’s stay out a bit longer.”

There’s a pause before he replies. “Me too?”

“Yes, you,” Rose says. “Why, what did you expect?”

“Well—”

“I happen to like you a fair amount,” she tells him, a smile tugging at her mouth at the expression on Scorpius’s face, bemusement and confusion and startled joy. “I don’t think I’d have asked you to marry me if I didn’t, at least a little.”

Scorpius rolls his eyes and pulls Rose to his side. Together they turn to face the fields, their backs to the Burrow, the wind rushing to meet them where they stand. The taste of it is sharp and fresh.

Against her body, Rose feels Scorpius take a great shuddering breath. “What,” she says, “are you cold now?”

His chuckle is low in her ear. “Not at all,” he says, tucking his hands into her pockets, brushing his lips to her skin.

There is a sudden and gentle warmth in Rose’s chest, like embers. She smiles; she knows exactly what he means.


End file.
